Oh apples!
Oh apples! I love the crunch of it. I love its taste. I love how refreshing they are. For me they are a perfect food: beautiful to look at, healthy for the body, delicious alone or in dishes. I think Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
Here is a short list of some of the most popular apples and their characteristics:
Fuji: red, sweet, slightly crisp. Great eat apple. Gala–red, a little sour. Great eat apple. Jonathan: red, crunchy texture, sweet and sour flavor that holds up in the kitchen. Great eat apple. The flavor remains in the kitchen. Golden Delicious: yellow, more acidic than Red Delicious, not too crispy. Red Delicious: red, sweet with just a touch of acidity, floury texture. Doesn’t hold up very well like a cooking apple. Granny Smith: green, crisp, tart, holds its shape well. Excellent for cakes, crumbles and chips.
One of my favorite breakfast recipes is crock pot oatmeal. Use Jonathan or Gala apples. First mix all the ingredients in a greased slow cooker. Cover and cook over low heat for 5-6 hours. Serve with milk or ice cream. The ingredients are: 2 cups of milk, 2 tbsp. honey, 1 tbsp. butter (no substitute!), 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 cup old fashioned dry oatmeal, 1 cup chopped apples, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 2 tbsp. brown sugar. I always add a few extra apples myself, I just like a lot of apple!
I recently watched an episode of Alton Brown’s “Good Eats.” In it, Alton made an apple pie using a pie pan. I thought that was an unusual choice of pan, but it seemed to work very well. The other thing he did that I found interesting was that he used four different types of apples (Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, and Golden Delicious). For some reason, it never occurred to me to use a variety of apples. It was a very informative episode, and I will definitely be using his advice. You might want to go to the Food Network and find his recipe if you’re going to make an apple pie for the holidays. (It’s called Super Apple Pie). Oh I almost forgot to share this with you, he used a pie bird so the air could escape and there was no empty space between the crust and where the apples start. Very ingenious!
Thinking back, I was very fortunate to grow up in the Adirondack Mountains, where I had an apple tree right up the drive from my house. It was on the neighbor’s property, but everyone was invited to come pick the apples. I can remember climbing that tree and eating apples to my fill…I suspect that’s where my love of apples began, and it occurs to me that I never thanked our neighbor for the plethora of apples that filled my belly through the night . years. Well, that’s the way it is when you’re a kid… you’re in the moment enjoying the crunch!